Eastern Canada cleans up after Noel

The cleanup has begun inEastern Canada after the remnants of Hurricane Noelwashed outroads, downed trees and left an estimated 200,000 homes and businesses without power.

The storm, with winds gusting up to 180 km/h in some coastal areas, rolled out of the region Sunday afternoon after battering the area since Saturday night.

Cleanup crews moved in soon after the storm cleared, with more than 230 hydro crews working in Nova Scotia alone, where more than 170,000 homes and businesses were left without power at the peak of the storm.

"We're going to work as hard as we can to get everybody back on," Margaret Murphy, a spokeswoman for Nova Scotia Power,told CBC News onMonday morning.

"We're going to put everything we have at it today."

She said power had been restored to about 70 per cent of customers by Monday morning and she hoped to have 90 per cent restored by the the end of the day.Crews from Quebec and Maine were in the region to help Nova Scotia Power with the cleanup effort.

At 7 a.m. AT Monday, 50,000 customers in Nova Scotia were still without power.

Murphysaid the storm was hard on the entire province, but wasparticularly rough on coastal areas like Lunenburg, Chester, Pictou and Cape Breton.

"The damage was widespread," she said, "This storm really hit from Yarmouth right through to Sydney."

Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and even eastern Quebec were also hit hard, with highways washed out and powerlines downed by heavy rains, gusting winds and even snow in some areas.

Environment Canada said Wreckhouse, in Newfoundland, saw winds gustingat 180 km/h, while 130millimetres of rain fell on parts of Cape Breton.

Despite the damage, Noel didn't cause the destruction seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Juan, which hit Atlantic Canada in September 2003, killing seven people and leaving 300,000 homes and businesses without power in Nova Scotia alone.

Noel did cause extensive damage to the Caribbean last week, killing at least 73 people in the Dominican Republic and 40 in Haiti. One person was killed in Jamaica and one man died in the Bahamas.